NEW YORK -- When Jeff Francoeur struggled to show patience during his first two Major League seasons, the Braves said that they didn't want to do anything that would force him to lose his aggressiveness.

Now that Francoeur has seemingly gained a better understanding of plate discipline, the Braves are just hoping that he doesn't totally forget about the success he had during the days when he was more of a free swinger.

"He is who he is and he's going to be phenomenal for that," pitcher John Smoltz said. "There's a fine line between who he is and who somebody wants him to be."

Francoeur is never going to have the discipline of Tony Gwynn or Wade Boggs. But while drawing six walks over the course of the past eight games entering Friday, the 23-year-old right fielder had at least proven that he's more than just the second coming of Dave Kingman.

I can live with these as long as the power numbers stay up. Not many hr hitters have low strikeout numbers. Their are quite a few but not many. He has improved this season. He has a habit like AJ had when he first came up, chasing the slider low and away. A change in his stance I think will help cut down on the strikeouts.

This is huge. He's suddenly gone from one of the worst regulars in baseball to a bonafide All-Star right fielder. It's early, yes, but 8 walks in 79 at-bats is huge. He's nearly tripled his walk-rate since last year.

Watch out world.

Manocad wrote:I have an engineering degree, an exceptionally high IQ, and can point to the exact location/area of any country on an unlabeled globe.